Canada Revenue Agency: You owe us money.
Me: Why?
Canada Revenue Agency: [Looking at records] Well, it looks like you didn’t pay what you owed in 2010.
Me: Really? that long ago? that’s a surprise—can you tell me what it’s from?
Canada Revenue Agency: [after much ado and a few blind alleys of questions] We reassessed your medical amount and you owe us.
Me: Why?
Canada Revenue Agency: Because we wanted proof of your medical expenses in 2010 and you didn’t send them to us [including, as it turns out, expenses as part of employer insurance clearly ‘proven’ on the T4].
Me: Okay, if I send you that, will that work?
Canada Revenue Agency: Sure.
Me: Good. But, here’s a little catch—I’m not sure if I can get copies of a lot of additional expenses from that far back. Just for my information, can you tell me why it took so long to ask me about this stuff?
Canada Revenue Agency: Yeah. We just updated our computer system. We’re getting better about communicating with people.
—Anna-Liisa Aunio
Committing Sociology 